Barcelona are reportedly expecting Lionel Messi to return to training with the rest of the group on Friday as fears over an injury have been dismissed.
The Catalan giants will restart their La Liga campaign on June 13 when they take the trip to face Real Mallorca looking to protect their two-point advantage over rivals Real Madrid at the top of the table.
In order to have the best possible chance of successfully defending their league crown this year, coach Quique Setien will be desperate to have as close to a fully-fit squad at his disposal as possible.
They don’t come much more important than Messi either, with the 32-year-old scoring 24 goals and providing 16 assists in 31 appearances so far this season to continue to be the talisman for Barcelona.
He caused a stir on Wednesday though after he was seen training individually and away from the rest of the group which led to concerns that he might be injured, but as noted by Sport, he is being tipped to train as normal on Friday and fear over an injury has been allayed as it’s noted that he will be ready to face Mallorca.
It may well be part of a plan from the club to not only ensure that their players are all in top condition after a two-month break, but they are also focusing on their injury resistance too as there is undoubtedly the risk of setbacks being suffered given the lengthy period of inactivity and the jump straight back into competitive action.
With that in mind, whether it was precautionary or planned, it was arguably the sensible thing to do and as per the report above, Messi hasn’t sustained an injury and his presence in group training on Friday will seemingly prove that as well as keep him on track to be ready for the first game back in just over a week’s time.
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